Last year MiPad - also Xiaomi"s first tablet - was a rousing success, with over 50,000 units sold in the first four minutes of availability. That momentum, of course, continued over the year, especially in China, Xiaomi"s home market. This year"s follow up to the bestseller brings all the things buyers of the Mi Pad loved, along with a few new things.
The biggest of these changes is the fact that Xiaomi is selling its tablet in two offerings: while the specs are the same across both versions, you can now choose between the Android-forked MIUI and Windows 10 as the OS powering your device. With Microsoft and Xiaomi cozying up to one another on the mobile front in the past few months, it was only a matter of time before Windows made its way to Xiaomi"s tablet. The fact that devices less than 9-inches get the OS for free doesn"t harm matters either. Unfortunately, while Windows is an option, you will not be able to dual-boot it with Android on the same device.
On the design front, Xiaomi"s products have often been likened to those coming out of Apple and the MiPad 2 is no exception. The 7.9-inch tablet features an all-metal body that is eerily similar to the iPad 2 Mini and greets you with a 2048 x 1536px screen that - on paper, at least - is capable of going toe-to-toe with Apple"s Retina display any day of the week.
Powering it all is an Intel Atom X5-Z8500 paired with 2GB of RAM and either 16 or 64GB of internal storage. 8 MP and 5 MP shooters adorn the back and the front of the device, respectively, with a 6190 mAh battery providing the juice to keep it running. Xiaomi has also opted to adopt the USB Type-C port from this generation onwards.
Pricing on the MiPad 2 starts around $150 for the 16GB version, while the 64GB version costs a little north of $200. The Android model, available in both capacities, will be available to Chinese users from November 27th, while the Windows 10 version will follow a month later, available exclusively with 64GB of storage.